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Sunday, December 25, 2011

FINNISH CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas, everyone!

It's the morning of 25th here in Helsinki, the Capital of Finland ( don't know where Finland is check this out ) we don't have Christmas on Christmas Day but on Christmas Eve, the 24th. Want to know a little about Christmas in Finland, let me tell you how I spend yesterday, spiced with a little childhood memories...

Waking up Christmas Eve isn't quite as exciting as it used to be, I no longer believe in Santa so our Christmas present were already under the tree when I woke up ( no Santa visiting to bring toys, I remember being scared shitless of the guy the first four year he came by, even with presents ;) ), of course now I get perhaps an hour or two to wake up before I need to tidy the home up ( it’s a crime to have an unclean home for Christmas ) so I post the Smitten Review, say Merry Christmas to everyone on Facebook and crack my knuckles and get to cleaning. My husband likes to make bread and meatballs for the dinner so he gets to making those and I begin the tedious job of figuring out a place for all the food, from culinary school I picked up the trick of putting plates on the table with pieces of paper with a name of the food in them, so now the table is full of white plates with little tags on them – and still it all won’t fit, well it happen every year I do not know why I even try? ;)

Of course now it’s time for breakfast, it’s ten when I start making rice porridge ( simply the mandatory tradition ) I boil two deciliters of water, and porridge rice cook until the water gets absorbed then all a little of whole milk and gently cook for 35 minutes. I love rice porridge especially with Cinnamon -Sugar sprinkled on top!

Mom arrives after noon, we start cooking even though we won’t eat until three. Here is all that went to the Christmas table this year:Cooked Grey Salted Ham (cold)Carrot, Svede, Liver and Potato CasseroleVegetarian Basil BucksBoiled Potatoes Peet, Carrot, Pickle, Onion Rosolli (cold)PeasEgg halves with KaviarRaw Salted Salmon thin file slicesHomemade CheeseCreamy Mushroom SaladRed WineBeerWater
You can see on the right how it looked, and I can tell you it tasted good!
We actually skipped dessert, mostly, because no one could eat more. ;)

After eating it’s always presents time ( now when I was a kid I was allowed to open one gift before Christmas Dinner, and the rest after it, but now a days I have better self-control ;) ) so after taking few breathers we get at it ( it’s just me and my husband, my mother and her longtime boyfriend – we tend to have Christmas together even though I have dad and my two half-sisters, step mom and a honorary brother of sorts ;) , mom and me grew up alone together so we spend Christmas together every year, habits and traditions I suppose ) to opening presents.

I already received a trip to Budapest early this December and Cowboy Boots from my husband and a Kindle 4 from myself so I only get two gift under the tree ( not that I’m complaining! I loved my pre-Christmas gift the most! ) and I like watching people open gift I got them, I put a lot thought into those and like to give so this is a great way to spend Christmas for me. An Example I got a luxurious big flurry super soft bathrobe for mom ( which she loved ), Beckham Signature scent for her boyfriend ( he’s a major football fan, and let’s face it it’s a gift for mom too as he smells better now ;) ) and an electric blanket for my husband ( who hasn’t stopped complaining how cold Finland is since he experienced the first Christmas here - he must have loved me a lot to come back to Finland, marry me and move here ). I did get two present though! Exactly what I wanted too, Lancôme’s Miracle and Outlander 20th Anniversary Edition! ( which is gorgeous! )

After opening presents everyone winds down, drinks mulled red wine ( glögi ) has some brown gingerbread cookies and chocolates. There probably won’t be any eating for the rest of the day, just relaxing and chilling. If there was a cemetery close by with family members there it would be the living families duty to bring them light for Christmas Night – it’s traditional to buy white candles with golden tops to take to the graves of relatives. All my relatives are buried elsewhere in their home towns, only my grandmother is buried here.

Christmas Day, that’s today, is usually when you visit other family members who offer you leftovers from Christmas meals, like you offer to those who visit you. Lots of more glögi drinking and reminiscing on past Christmases. And of course playing with toys Santa brought you yesterday! For me that would be Miracle on and reading Outlander. ;)

As this is a time of giving, I am giving A Free Novella for you, yes, You - you can pick it up HERE! Happy Holidays!

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